


A scratch.

by loisselina (LoisSelina)



Category: Once Upon a Time (TV)
Genre: Daddy Charming, Fear, For Like A Day, Gen, Parent Prince Charming | David Nolan, Protective Parent Prince Charming | David Nolan, Sleeping Curse, True Love
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-10-03
Updated: 2018-10-03
Packaged: 2019-07-24 13:19:57
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,705
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16175891
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/LoisSelina/pseuds/loisselina
Summary: Emma gets a scratch from a spinning wheel and falls into a sleeping curse, with only her dad around. Set shortly after Emma and Snow get back from the EF.





	A scratch.

**Author's Note:**

  * For [justanoutlaw](https://archiveofourown.org/users/justanoutlaw/gifts).



_ David was a very physically affectionate person, anyone who was close to him knew that. He was always kissing Snow, hugging Emma, ruffling Henry’s hair, squeezing Ruby’s hand, placing his hand on Regina’s arm or back. He was just a loving person; full of love, yet always giving love.  _

 

* * *

 

 

It had started with Gold and Belle deciding to move house, they and the Charmings had become friends, so when Belle insisted that she had wanted to move home without magic the Charmings has happily agreed to let them store a couple of more delicate items in the loft while they moved. 

Normally it was Snow, David, and Emma in the loft, Henry stayed over a bit but Regina had custody of him, she was his mother after all. But they had all known about Belle and Gold’s things being in the loft for a couple of weeks, David and Snow had been reminding Emma to be careful near them, to not touch them, and to avoid even going close, they knew how clumsy she could be. 

Maybe if Snow had been there nothing bad would have happened, she might have reminded Emma not to run indoors and Emma would have rolled her eyes but she would be safe, but Snow was not there she and Henry were on a trip to D.C with the school, and by the time Emma’s name was out of his mouth Emma was on the ground.

 

* * *

 

 

_ David was the most physically affectionate person his friends and family knew yet as his daughter led on the bed he couldn’t even bring himself to touch her. He saw in the chair next to the bed, blocking out all of the voices of the people around him, his little girl was under a sleeping curse, he had been in charge at home for a couple of days, for the first time since Snow and Emma were stuck in the Enchanted Forest, and his daughter had fallen into a sleeping curse. Yet he could barely touch her. He couldn’t bring himself to simply kiss her forehead. _

 

* * *

 

 

He rushed over to her, shouting her name, cradling her, trying to wake her up, make sure she was alive, realising she was under a sleeping curse. 

 

* * *

 

Everything was a blur, at some point he must have picked her up and tucked her into the middle of his and Snow’s bed. He must have also called a few people - Gold, Belle, Regina, Ruby, anyone he could think of who he was closed to or who might be able to help.

“David, if you kiss her she’ll wake up.” Ruby prodded gently, she hated seeing both Emma and David like this, but David especially. 

David did not kiss her.

“David,” Regina was ever so slightly firmer but in a way she also understood David’s hesitance, “you  _ do  _ share true love with her. Just… Just try.” 

David refused, he insisted that there must be some other way, anyway other way. He kept insisting until eventually Regina, Belle, and Ruby all stood in front of him threatening to call Snow. She would find out anyway of course, about all of this, he and Snow had no secrets. But the thought of Snow’s voice down the phone to him as his daughter led in a sleep like death was finally enough for him to kiss Emma’s forehead, just about, his lips barely touched her skin. But magic spread through the room. Emma awoke.

 

* * *

 

Snow was home two days later, two days and nights full of Emma having nightmares, of David lighting candles for her, of neither of them sleeping. David filled his wife in on everything… everything other than  _ why _ .

 

Snow didn’t understand, it just wasn’t like David to leave Emma suffering, the burning room of all things. He had seen how deeply that had affected her, he had sat up all night just incase Snow had woken up with night terrors, the same with Henry when Snow and Emma had been stuck in the Enchanted Forest, so why would he have just left Emma in there for almost a day? 

 

* * *

 

The tension hung in the air for a couple of days, Snow waiting for an explanation, and David just seemed to be holding his breath as though waiting for all of this to shatter.

* * *

 

 

Snow woke one night in an empty bed, she wasn’t too worried she knew where her husband would be, and he was. David stood leant against the doorway of Emma’s room after clearly having helped her through a nightmare, the lit candle stood as evidence to that, despite the quiet and the calm David had never looked so troubled. 

Snow took her place next to him, watching Emma sleep, she didn’t say a word but instead waited for David to do so. 

He eventually did.

“She got cut.” David whispered the words forcing themselves out of his mouth for the first ever time. It was a secret which had been in his nightmares when he was cursed and had been ever present in his mind when the curse had broken. “When I was carrying her to the wardrobe, the swords-  _ it was only a tiny cut _ -” His voice grew slightly louder and more desperate, begging her to believe him “ _ I swear _ , she didn’t even cry, there was only a little blood, but she got cut before I could put her in the wardrobe.” His eyes and his mouth were open wide in despair as he looked at his sleeping daughter, her face illuminated by the flickering candle light. 

Snow however was looking at David’s face. He looked almost heartbroken, scared, and somehow amazed. “Charming,” her voice was barely above a whisper, “why didn’t you kiss Emma straight away. Why didn’t you want to wake her up?” She wasn’t judging, and she didn’t believe for a second that he didn’t want to wake her up, she just wanted to know what was going on in that beautiful head of his. 

“What if I couldn’t?” The fear from the time had seeped into his whispers. “ _ I _ was the one to send her away, I dumped her into a wardrobe, I’ve let her down so many times…  _ I love her with all of my heart _ .” He told her sincerely. “I didn’t think that she loved me, especially not like that, not  _ true love,  _ not after all I did.” 

Snow pulled him down into a hug. “David, true love is  _ not _ affected by anything like that. You didn’t let her down, she doesn’t think that, you’re her hero, she absolutely idolises you, you  _ saved _ her.” 

Despite all of the proof in front of him David still doubted it, just a little, enough that it stayed a fear. 

 

* * *

 

Unbeknown to David and Snow Emma had heard the ending of their conversation, she wanted to jump out of bed and tell him that she did love him, of course she did, and although she had been angry throughout her childhood and teenage years she had been so angry, but now she knew him didn’t blame her dad, or her mom. She loved them beyond words and beyond what she could ever have imagined. 

She didn’t though, she wasn’t sure of what words to say, and this moment just seemed to belong to her mom and to her dad.

 

* * *

 

Over the next few days Emma spend even more time than she had been around her dad. After four days of it Emma was sat watching some tv with her dad and she ‘subtly’ moved closer to him before dropping her head to rest on his shoulder. 

David paused for a second. “You know, don’t you?” He couldn’t imagine Snow betraying his confidence and telling her. He half shut his eyes and grimaced when he remembered his and his wife’s conversation in their daughters bedroom, how he raised his voice to try and emphasise the point… “Emma I’m-”

“-I always wondered what I got my scar from.” She admitted. A small smirk appeared on her face. “When I was a kid I imagined I got it going on some adventure with my, well, with you.” She gave a small laugh. “I guess I was right.”

“I should  _ never _ have let you get cut, I’m so sorry-”

“-Woah,” Emma interrupted a nervous and surprised laugh falling from her lips, “seriously? You were fighting about a million knights, with a  _ baby _ in your arms. I can’t even walk somewhere without getting a cut on my finger.” She felt him stiffen at her joke about her mishap with the spinning needle. “Too soon?”

“Yes, I might let you make one joke about it when you’re fifty, if you’re lucky. Anyway, that doesn’t matter I should have looked after you, I should have protected you.”

Emma looked up at him, he wasn’t just talking about a little scratch, he meant in general. “You look after me now, and protect me, you saved me by sending me here and- and since then. You’re here.” She wasn’t good at words, she hated that, that she couldn’t word that he had saved her just by being her dad with all the madness in their lives. She felt him cuddle her closer and knew that he was like her, or she like him, they would struggle their way through words but preferred actions. Words were harder. That was why she had to try. “You were- we do share true love, I know I’m not good at saying it, or showing it, but you- I-... You’re my  _ dad _ .” His title was loaded with meaning and she felt him cuddle her even closer. A kiss dropped onto the top of her head. 

“And I always will be.” He assured her, he kissed her again, wishing more than anything that he could have kissed her as soon as she fell into the sleeping curse. He couldn’t do anything about that, like he couldn’t do a thing about the scratch on her shoulder, turned into a scar thanks to her trip through a magic tree. But he could just keep proving one thing; that they shared true love. “I love you so much Emma Swan.” He whispered. 

There was a pause.

“I love you too, dad.”

  
  



End file.
